The New 2016 ISTE Student Standards

These are the 2016 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards. The older standards included ways that students could demonstrate how they could use technology. The new standards recognize that technology has revolutionized how we acquire, process and communicate knowledge. Specifically, they reflect how technology can empower learning, the acquisition of knowledge, innovation, the thinking process, communication and collaboration. Technology is redefining how we learn, what we learn and how we use what we learn. The new standards reflect the reality that the digital age has truly provided us with the means to do things we couldn’t do before. Along with the power of digital tools comes the responsibility to critically evaluate data as well as to use it effectively and conscientiously. While our students may be digital natives, most have not learned how to really use technology to empower their learning and their ability to communicate and collaborate. The new standards recognize the need to help our students reach their greatest potential given the truly awesome tools available to all of us.